A conversation between Ryan Moore and Lester Piggott, can you imagine it? Any eavesdropping race fan would love to hear these two men, born almost half a century apart, sharing the knowledge that has made them perhaps the finest Flat jockeys Britain has produced, with 11 Derbys and 14 championships between them.

There might be some longueurs between the gems, since the pair are almost as famous for their reticence, for their mutual chariness with speech as for their achievements. In an interview, they look as if they were poised at the back of the field when the leaders have gone off too fast in the early stages: still, watchful and amused.

Tantalisingly, they spoke last weekend, Moore tells me as we settle down for half an hour of Derby-related chat in Newmarket. Did they discuss the best way to ride the famously tricky contours of Epsom? What can he report about Piggott’s state of health?

“I didn’t talk about that,” Moore says, smiling at the outsider’s idea of what jockeys say to each other. “I rode a horse for him, I fucked up on it.” The animal was Bilimbi, owned by a syndicate including Piggott and a beaten favourite in Haydock’s Silver Bowl, having possibly raced too close to the pace.

Moore withholds details of the exchange but cheerily denies the older man was “giving him stick” for the ride. He appears to regret that he does not know Piggott better but The Long Fellow lives in Switzerland these days. They are likely to bump into each other at Epsom for the Derby next Saturday, though; perhaps they will discuss Classic-winning tactics then? “I don’t think there’ll be much talking done,” says Moore, laughing again.

We meet on a day when he is suspended for a careless riding offence a fortnight before. He is consequently as relaxed as a journalist can ever hope to find him but there is tension beneath the surface because his determination to sustain his fine Derby record is real. From eight rides, he has won the race twice, on Workforce and, last year, aboard Ruler Of The World. We discuss the number of famed jockeys who have had less success in the race, a list topped by Sir Gordon Richards and Frankie Dettori with one win apiece.

“In this country, it’s still the most important race and there’s a unique atmosphere,” he says. “I always look forward to Epsom, it is the biggest day of the year. I had my first ride for John Dunlop [a 40-1 shot called Unfurled, seventh in 2005] and that ran well. Luckily enough, everything I’ve rode there, bar one, has got involved at some point.”

In a sense, Moore is rather in limbo regarding this year’s race, since it is not yet known which horse he will be riding. It will be one of the runners trained by Aidan O’Brien, though not the favourite, Australia, whose regular partner is the trainer’s son, Joseph.

O’Brien said week that Moore could have his pick of the other three, Geoffrey Chaucer, Orchestra and Kingfisher. But O’Brien’s base is at Ballydoyle, near Tipperary; Moore is hardly ever there to work on the gallops and certainly has no plans to fly over before the Derby, so he concedes that he will have to take the trainer’s guidance as to how well the three colts are doing. It will be a similar story for Friday’s Oaks, in which O’Brien has six entries.

It might be expected that this lack of knowledge would make a jockey anxious but Moore feels he is in a privileged position and not in the least inclined to fret. “I know all the horses that are running, so it won’t change how I’ll prepare. I know what I think about them all and I’ve got it in my head already.

“I’m very happy to be riding any of those horses. They’re bred to do the job and Coolmore [O’Brien’s employers] has produced the last three Derby winners, so it’s a good starting point.”

Geoffrey Chaucer is the most fancied of Moore’s Derby possibles at 8-1 but, listening to him assess the trio, the impression is that he is seriously considering the 20-1 shot Orchestra, on which he won the Chester Vase three weeks ago. He won the same race on O’Brien’s Ruler Of The World the month before their Derby success.

“I haven’t sat on Geoffrey. I thought that was a good run, the last time. Orchestra impressed me an awful lot round Chester. The other horse [Kingfisher], he won the Dee Stakes. He’s probably got to come forward a good bit but horses do that in the month between trials and the races, things change a lot with three-year-olds this time of year.

“They declare Thursday, you have till one o’clock. That’s probably when I’ll know for sure. Just a morning’s a long time for a horse, so we’ll see what’s happening and how the race is shaping up.”

Moore smiles as we rehearse a very familiar dance, the questioner pressing for information, the jockey unwilling to be cornered, keeping his options open for as long as possible. He laughs again as he finds himself offering a precis of what he looks for in a Derby horse; he is sure it will not please because he is inclined to keep the answer simple.

“It’s very important that they have plenty of gears and a good turn of foot. You need them to stay but you’ve got to have a horse that’s faster than the others.”

Surely the Derby winner has to be particularly suited to Epsom, where the track rises and then suddenly falls, where the home straight runs along the side of a hill? “I don’t think there is that big a factor. When you look back through the years, there’s going to be some lucky horses but usually the better horses come to the fore. I would probably say eight out of 10 times, the best horse has won it.”

While Epsom may not be as tricky for horses as we imagine, Moore readily concedes that it poses a serious challenge for a jockey. Are there any easy mistakes he now knows to avoid? “There are some pitfalls ...” he says and then here comes that grin again. “But I’ll keep them to myself.”